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Varsity Hurricanes too strong for Bengals

Pitcher Andrew McGarry turned in a stellar performance in the Hurricanes win over the Bengals. Photo by K. Curtis

Execution was the name of the game for the Block Island Varsity Baseball Team in a hard-fought 10-7 victory over the visiting BCA Bengals on Tuesday, May 16th at Heinz Field. The young Hurricanes’ knack for manufacturing runs and an outstanding pitching performance by Andrew McGarry energized the hometown crowd while they cheered Block Island to their second victory of the season.

Block Island took advantage of some early control problems from BCA’s ace and jumped to a 3-1 lead after one inning of play. In the second, the Hurricanes added to their modest advantage when McGarry drew a two-out throw and held a rundown long enough for teammate, Mathias Heinz, who had singled earlier in the frame, to scamper home with the fourth run.

The 4-1 lead did not last long as BCA chipped away and closed the margin to 4-3 through three and-a-half innings. With one out in the fourth, Dani Pineda worked a walk and promptly stole second and third on successive pitches. A nifty suicide squeeze bunt by Heinz gave the Hurricanes a 5-3 edge after four complete.

McGarry struck out the side in the fifth and watched his teammates rally for three more runs on a Sawyer Millstead two-run single, a stolen base and a passed ball in the bottom of the stanza.

Despite McGarry’s favorable ball/strike ratio, and superb glove work from “Super Jack” Connell and David Barillas in the top of the sixth, the Bengals clawed their way back into the contest. They strung together three hits and benefitted from a Hurricane miscue to shrink the gap to 8-6.

The Hurricanes’ offensive effort continued in the bottom of the sixth. Back-to-back RBI hits from Silas Monje and Jostin Blanco stretched the margin to 10 -7.

McGarry finished off the Bengals recording his 10th strikeout in an impressive complete game performance.